9 Months of Joy

Yep, this kid is now 9 months old!  (And 39 weeks on the same day.)  Notice how his knees now have chubby little rolls!  So cute!

We started off the week with a mega-purchase!  We brought home a beautiful brand-new blue 2015 VW Passat LE.  I have to give a big thank you to our nephew Daniel for taking the long tedious hours time to explain to me the differences between buying & leasing and also the bells & whistles of the Passat.  I will be honest here (as usual!), this was my first new car purchase EVER.  Craig & I decided we needed something more dependable now that we have a family and New England winters are just shy of daily blizzards.  We also got a nice maintenance package so my dear husband does not have to do any oil changes or regular maintenance until 60,000 miles.  (This is definitely a benefit, since I can now nag someone who does car repair for a living instead of my hubby!)  I just have to come up with a name for the new car now...  thoughts?  (My old choice for a car name was Paolo, but I feel like I need something new for a new car!)

Yippee!  Mama got a new car!

Mommy took out Gabriel's giraffe rocker from Christmas (Thanks Godparents Chelsea & Andre!) finally and got a cute picture of him on it.

This week we headed to the Kingsbury's for a play date.  Connor (almost 3) was loving on Gabriel!  He wanted to hug him and kiss him and give him toys.  It was really cute!  Once the twins (Carolyn & Lucas, almost 2) woke up from their nap, they were bringing Gabe toys left and right.  It was so fun to see him interacting with other kids well.

Gabe has been interested in playing peek-a-boo lately.  He decided the shower curtain was a good option for a hiding place!  Click here for the video.

We have nicknamed the worm "Gabby Gabe" this week.  He has started "talking" in more understandable "ba ba ba ba" language.  Click here for a video.  Other talents for the week include being able to sit back up from reaching forward on his belly and waving!  Gabriel is also starting to crawl (though he still has a little trouble picking his chest/belly off the floor, so it is more of an army-style crawl).  So, Mommy and Daddy broke out baby jail the baby play yard in order to corral this kid during times like when we want to cook dinner or grab something from the basement.  He's not the biggest fan, but he has enough toys to entertain himself!

Our niece Justine made Gabe a cute stegosaurus dinosaur toy complete with ribbon "spikes" on its back.  (I am impressed at how great she is doing with sewing awesome items using nothing but a picture!)  Gabe loves cuddling it!

I hosted an online Usborne books party a week or so ago, and we were blessed with an awesome gift from my babysitter (when I was young) & family friend, Ginny Julian.  She purchased a bunch of books for Gabe (Thank you!!), which we received this week.  He dug right in!

I'll leave you with a final picture that I swear means Gabriel is going to be a genius!  I mean, who else could read a book while sleeping?  Must be a smart kid!